Blog Archives

Spears Woods June 26, 2021

6/30/2021

Spears Woods Saturday June 26
Our sole weekend restoration effort and we managed to get rained on just once, briefly, in the course of three hours. Thank you, first time Palos volunteer Angela, and second-timer Darien, for coming out in these questionable conditions.

We pulled and bagged garlic mustard for most of the morning, and finished by dead-heading Canada thistle, all within a short distance of the parking lot.

Fungus Time
Recent moisture is spurring the growth of mushrooms, which were in short supply through much of spring. Check the 'elegant stinkhorn' below; I truly did not know what this was until I looked it up. Most cool.

Positive Graffiti
Understanding that I don't endorse graffiti, it still was somewhat refreshing, on a recent nature walk, to encounter graffiti with a positive message. Some of it might've been poached from Hallmark Cards, but it was still better than the norm. One quote came from Eleanor Roosevelt, with the following from Edith Wharton:
"Set wide the window, let me drink the day".

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June 24th, 2021

6/24/2021

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Cap Sauers Moraines Saturday June 19
Your correspondent was absent due to a family event, but was able to piece together the story of a reed canary grass hunt at Cap. Thanks to first-time Palos volunteers Paul and Aidan for joining our group for the morning.

It was a warm day, an old-fashioned hunt wherein we clipped and bagged the flowering heads of the plant. I talked a bit about reed canary in a recent blog post, and suspect it is equally as tenacious as it was then.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday June 20
This day was equally warm, and though we were in a very shaded section of woodland, we also had no detectable breeze. So, yes, it was a Cinnabon day (warm & sticky).

We had three first-time Palos volunteers; thank you Darien, Eric, and Lucas for great help and interesting conversation. We found and bagged a lot of garlic mustard and butterweed, some of the latter growing in the muddy center of the creek bed.

When I left Black Partridge I went for a short kayak spin on Tampier Lake. Raindrops soon after I got in the water, with some impressive clouds overhead, ensured that it was a short spin. We've had day after day of fascinating cloud formations recentlyn and I never tire of them. Several pictures below are testimony to this.

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Willow Springs Woods/Katydid June 12, 2021

6/17/2021

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Willow Springs/Katydid Slough Saturday June 12
This was our sole session of the weekend, and one that I missed due to another commitment. It was also quite the sunny, steamy morning; credit to all who attended. I included one picture below, from Doug Bosco's FB post of that day. Our smallish crew went out to remove the flowering heads of reed canary grass, a hugely troublesome invasive plant that is very adaptable.

From a USDA publication, my italics to indicate the variety of habitats where this grass is found: "Reed canary grass can grow on dry soils in upland habitats and in the partial shade of oak woodlands, but does best on fertile, moist organic soils in full sun. This species can invade most types of wetlands, including marshes, wet prairies, sedge meadows, fens, stream banks, ditches and seasonally wet areas; it also grows in disturbed areas such as bergs and spoil-piles."

Holy cripes, it grows most everywhere! Did I mention adaptable?. Here's more on RCG (Reed canary grass)

Nature Walk With a Librarian, Thursday June 17
This was the third of our Spring walks, and we had a great, fun group of 14. It was a dream morning, sunny but we were shaded, not too warm. We walked the loop trail at the south woods, over bone-dry trails, and stopped to read - this was a true surprise - positive, inspirational graffiti at the stone CCC shelter on the south side of the loop. I plan to go back and retrieve/share some of this graffiti.

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Spears Woods June 5, McClaughrey Springs June 6, 2021

6/10/2021

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Spears Woods Saturday June 5
Saturday we walked south from the Spears lot, pulling garlic mustard and butterweed along the way. You can readily see the changes in seasons, as both those weeds are dropping flowers and going to seed, the invasive thistles (Canada and bull primarily) are growing bigger and preparing to flower. Ha! Guaranteed we'll have something to do next time out.

That's why we kid about 'job security for volunteers'. It truly is a thing...

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday June 6
I only was able to make the final hour of this one, a weed walk through the woodlands west of Mill Creek. There was still some garlic mustard to be had, and a considerable amount of Dame's rocket and butterweed as well.

We were working along a little drainage, and each time you were tempted to think "got it all", you needed only look left, right, or farther down the way to be disabused of that notion. See 'job security for volunteers' in the entry above.

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Pioneer Woods May 29, 2021

6/3/2021

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Pioneer Woods Saturday May 29
We had another good group, a dozen volunteers or more, including first-time Palos volunteers David and Maribel. The day was focused primarily on butterweed which was growing in several large clusters adjacent to the woodland. This stuff is persistent and spreads quickly; what remains to be seen if whether our pulling prevents further spread.

We're in full summer mode now, going after weeds whether by pulling or dead-heading. There's quite an assortment out there - I saw thistles, teasel, and wild parsnip on a recent prairie walk. That's ok, will keep me out of the gin mills and their modern equivalent, the weed shops.

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Spears Woods June 26, 2021

June 24th, 2021

Willow Springs Woods/Katydid June 12, 2021

Spears Woods June 5, McClaughrey Springs June 6, 2021

Pioneer Woods May 29, 2021

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